Hot topic in Japan

On Jimbo's English Teaching in Japan (under EFL/ESL folder), there are topics about teaching English in elementary schools in Japan. This is one of our current hot topics. Among the topics, I found "Challenges in Using English Picture Books for Japanese Primary School Teachers" interesting.

I can see Japanese elementary school teachers are worried about the teaching English. One of the comments of the teachers surprised me. "I am not sure how accurate I should pronounce the words." Why do we need to control pronunciation to teach English according to grade levels?

In my opinion, concerns about introduction of English to elementary schools in Japan is that teachers have different attitude toward teaching English from the level. I agree with that it is beneficial to teach English from elementary schools, especially in terms of listening, pronunciation, avoiding cultural barrier or bias as long as we have trained teachers and organized education systems and curricula. Unfortunatelly, I don't think we have those. I'd like to keep my eyes on this issue.

Interesting resource for teaching English

Among my feeds, The Internet TESL Journal, which is under EFL/ESL folder, is one of my favorites. There, not only can we read issues relating to ESL, but also we can get many learning activities, such as crosswords, vocabulary, etc.

I tried one of the activities; vocabulary. I found it helpful for a teacher and students. From both teacher and students' point of view, it is great because it has pictures! Learning vocabulary with a concrete image (if possible) is a great help to learn. And a teachers don't need to find or draw pictures of vocabulary (It is very time consuming to draw or find every picture for each word...) In addition, because the activities are like game, so that students will enjoy learning.

Social network

I found Classroom 2.0 useful and interesting because there are lots of conversations going on. Especially, in terms of discussion, LIVE conversations in the network is a good place to visit. Because there are saved conversations, I can take my time to read them and find information I need, and because there are also links, I can get further infromation directly. For example, using wiki in classroom is a new idea to me and I donn't have clear ideas what is wiki, how I can create it, what I can do with it, etc. In the LIVE conversations, there is a discussion about wiki. In addition to getting information I want to know, I found people who share the same or similar questions with me, so I feel fine becasuse I'm not the only one who are not familiar with the current technology. I'd like to keep track of the social network.

Analogy: The learner of Today

The learner of today is like a person who is playing with a puzzle. A puzzle consists of lots of pieces and we need to fit each piece together in order to complete a puzzle. When I play with a puzzle, I, first, sort pieces according to colors, similar lines, etc. Then, I seek out right pieces to get together. Completion of a puzzle is done by trial and error. Siemens (2005) said, “… the ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements becomes a vital skill.” There are many sources in front of learners when they need to connect information to work on what they need to do. Finding necessary sources and plugging into them resembles playing with a puzzle: Typing key words to find sources and checking which one seems to be relevant is like classifying pieces of a puzzle, visiting and checking information is similar to trying to find right pieces to connect each other, and saving related information analogizes with a gradual process of completion of a puzzle. Different puzzles require us to use different analysis of colors, sequences of lines because they have different pictures, but we can apply our previous experiences to find right ones to connect. Likewise, learners need to analyze different information based on what they are looking for in accessing information and choosing related things, but they can use their previous experiences and knowledge to do so.

Siemens, G. (2005, January). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, Retrieved September 9, 2008, from http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_05/article01.htm

Size of a teacher's heart

I couldn't post a cartoon by Aaron Bacall, but instead, I posted the link to see it.
It is encouraging for teachers, isn't it?

http://snipurl.com/3o29k [books_google_com]

Review is Important

I think this well represents how important review is. Even though I know review/back up is essential, sadly this situation happens to me very frequently...

Because I want my students not to experience this, I will tell them "please make a back-up of what you learn!"

Uses of Blogs

My top three ways of using blogs are as follows;
1) To post class-related information and additional information about topics students are learning in class
Regarding class-related information, I think it is a good idea to post class schedule and information about special activities and things to be brought for the activities. One of the reason is because it enables for parents and students to track progress of the class and what students are learning now. In addition, it allows paretns and students to prepare something necessary for activities in advance.
In terms of additional information, I am thinking learning tools or materials, special events in community, interesting news, etc. are helpful for students raise their interests and improve their knowledge and skills.

2)To create a class newsletter with student-writings and photos of them
It is always nice to read and share something about students' accomplishments, efforts, ideas with other students and their parents. These letters can enhance students' motivation and give ideas what they are learning to their parents.

3) To make links between students in my class and other classes in the world
Since I have friends from different countries, our common language is English. So if I can provide links with students, they can communicate others in the world in English, which will enhance their skills. Especially, having situation in which students have to use English is authentic, which was missing in my own learing experiences during my school life. Thus, I strongly would like to use blogs for this use.

Greeting!

Hello and welcome to Nana's Learning Room. In this blog, hopefully I can share interesting, usefull information for teaching English as a foreing language with you.
Your comments are always welcomed and appreciated!